


Reconciliation

by lasairfhiona



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 12:18:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4835045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a difficult mission Clint and Natasha find out that Phil Coulson is alive and well.  This is the story of how they are reunited and work out their differences to become friends again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reconciliation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Glinda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glinda/gifts).



> Thanks to Res for kicking the muse into order. Thanks to sharpiesgal for everything else :-)

He’d heard rumors, of course, but no one he spoke to could, or would, tell him if they were true. Not even Fury but then when it came to things like that he took what Fury said with a grain of salt anyway. He trusted the one-eyed bastard but he also knew his friend would keep a secret if he had to. He’d proven that time and time again when he’d protected Laura and the kids. 

But this. This took him by surprise. The voice in his ear guiding him to a safe zone for pick up when Cap and Iron Man’s coms went down. A voice that for all he’d known had been dead for the last… was it three years now. When he made it back to his transport, he asked, “Hey Coulson are you on the ground here?”

“No, I’m in the air.”

“You owe me an explanation. Come to the farm next week,” he said waving off Natasha’s curious look. He knew he’d be explaining that one all the way back to base and then home.

“The farm?”

“Yeah. It’s not quite the secret it use to be.”

“Okay, see you next week.”

He really didn’t know what possessed him to invite Coulson to the farm. His once friend knew about his home, had the coordinates, but he’d never invited anyone other than Tasha there before Loki. Before everything changed.

+++

“What the hell?”

Clint sighed. “Tasha, I don’t want to talk about it,” he said as he set the auto pilot with the coordinates for his farm instead of the base. He was tired and wanted to go home. He could debrief via phone. Plus he needed to talk to his wife. 

“Coulson is alive and you invited him back to the farm? What is Laura going to say?”

“Yes, apparently he is. Yes, I did,” he said with a shrug. “I want answers. He was our friend. We were a team and he lied to me, us.”

“And Laura?”

Clint shrugged. “I don’t know. She’ll probably deck him when she sees him. The whole Loki thing and Coulson’s death messed me up and she was the one who put me back together. She’s not going to tolerate him showing up alive after so long, especially after what I went through.”

“So you’re setting him up for Laura to do what we all want to do,” Natasha laughed at him.

Clint just shrugged and hid his smile from Tasha. She hit a little close to the truth with her comment. Where he and or Tasha might hold back because of what Coulson had been to them, Laura wouldn’t.

+++

“Honey, we’re home,” Clint called out as he came through the front door.

“Go shower and I’ll be up in a minute,” he heard her call out to him from somewhere in the house.

He climbed the steps to their bedroom, peeked in on his sleeping children before entering his bedroom, seeing Tasha doing the same. Dropping his go bag and shedding his clothes in the middle of the room, he padded naked toward the bathroom. A shower would feel good on his bruised body. 

Adjusting the water to hot he stepped under the spray and sighed as the water streamed down over his body washing away the dirt, grime, and blood from the mission. He was glad he could slip in without Laura seeing the cuts that he probably should have had looked at and maybe even the one or two stitched up. He knew if they were bad enough, Tasha could stitch them up later once he was clean and had said hello to his wife.

A cool breeze alerted him to Laura’s presence and he smiled as he felt her arms go around him. “Hey,” he said as he turned in her embrace. 

“How bad did you get hurt?”

“Cuts and bruises,” he answered bending slightly to kiss her. She’d see the worst of his cuts soon enough, he wanted to enjoy this moment of peace in her arms.

“So what brought you straight home? You know Nick has called several times since you didn’t show up where you were supposed to.”

Sighing Clint reached over her shoulder and turned off the water. “Yeah… About that,” he said quietly as he grabbed their towels, standing still as she dried him off first clucking at the cuts and bruises already forming. 

“Clint? What’s wrong?”

He knew she’d be able to tell by his tone of voice that there was something more than him just wanting to be home. He just wasn’t sure how he was going to tell her. “Let’s go lay down,” he suggested leading them into the bedroom and toward the bed she’d already turned down for them.

“Tasha will keep an ear out for Nathaniel,” she told him as they curled up in bed, his head on her shoulder.

“Good. I need to talk to you,” he whispered against her neck while he drew lazy circles on her stomach, loving the softness that came from giving him three beautiful children.

“Now you’re worrying me. Did something happen to one of your teammates?” she asked him tightening her hold on him.

Her words evoked visions of watching the tape of Coulson getting killed and of Pietro practically dying in his arms as he took the bullets meant for him. Both had given him nightmares for months as he carried the guilt of their deaths. And now that he knew Coulson was alive, he didn’t know what to think.

“Coulson’s alive,” he said quietly and waited for her to process what he’d told her.

“Say that again.”

And there it was, he could hear the steely anger in her voice. “Coulson’s alive.”

“That’s what I thought you said. What the hell?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. He’s coming here next week to explain.” He waited for the explosion to come. There is no way she wouldn’t be pissed at him for inviting Coulson to their home especially now after he’d been lying to them for the last three years. 

“Good. I have a few things I want to say to him.”

“That’s my girl,” he said with a smile, wrapping his arm tighter around her.

“We’ll get through this,” she told him kissing the top of his head. He hoped she was right, it was only with determination and sheer will power that she’d kept him together when he’d wake up screaming after yet another dream about seeing Loki stabbing Coulson over and over again. And then there were the dreams that had him stabbing Coulson… She’d been his rock. She’d stood by him while he recovered from being mindfucked by Loki. And she’d held him, listening to him talk and tell stories about him and Natasha working with Coulson. She also told him about the times he’d been hospitalized and Coulson had been her rock while he went through surgery or when he wasn’t a wonderful patient recovering. Phil, their friend, had been so much a part of their life that his ‘death’ had affected all of them. And now Phil was alive, he’d lied to them, betrayed their friendship. 

He didn’t realize he’d been saying all this out loud until he heard her whispering soothing words against his head. “You need to tell him what you went through when he shows up here,” she told him.

“Maybe. But first I want to hear why he lied to us. We were family. You, me, Natasha, Coulson. He betrayed all of that.”

“And maybe he had a reason,” she pointed out.

“That’s what I want to hear,” he told her, rising up just enough to give her a quick kiss. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being you. For sticking by me through all the shit. For being the level headed one.”

“I love you. Of course I’m going to stick by you. Now sleep. I’ll watch over you.” He rested his head back against her shoulder his hand cupping her breast, allowing himself to drift to sleep surrounded by her.

+++

Coulson drove slowly through the rolling hay fields wondering if he was ever going to arrive at the house. As he came over the last rise he saw the house nestled in a hollow with tall old timbers and a few out buildings. He could see a few horses and some cattle grazing behind the barn. He remembered them talking about the farm. He remembered Laura always teasing Clint about the house always being torn up by yet another renovation project. 

He saw them walk out on the porch as he got closer. Obviously there was an early warning system somewhere along the dusty road he’d driven. 

Parking the car, he got out, waiting for them at the front of his car. “Am I going to have to run the gauntlet just to see him?”

“Run the gauntlet? I thought once upon a time we were considered family? Does that mean you’re just here to see him and explain? That Laura and I don’t matter?”

“Considering you and Maria became Fury’s right hand people after New York and the fall of SHIELD. I figured Fury told you. After all it wouldn’t be the first time you kept things from Clint whether it was for his own good or simply a need to know reason,” he shot back. Only once had he been intimidated by Natasha, he was not going to let her intimidate him now. Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he pulled a flash drive from it and threw it towards her. She’d do better with the actual files versus him trying to explain. 

He pushed away from the hood of his car and walked past her. The fact she didn’t kill him on the spot spoke a lot to her having come to terms with his ‘death’ and resurrection. It wasn’t until he came face to face with Laura that he knew getting in to see Clint wasn’t going to be easy. “Laura.”

“He was broken after New York. I put him back together as he mourned you. I dealt with his guilt. You break him again and I will take my granddaddy’s gun and fill you so full of holes no fancy tricks Fury can pull out of his hat will be able to fix you. Am I making myself understood?”

Coulson just nodded. He knew the strength of the woman Clint married. She had to be to be able to remain married to a SHIELD agent. He had just underestimated how strong she was. 

“I asked you a question. Do you understand me?” she asked him again, standing in his path. Not letting him pass.

“Yes. Laura, I understand,” he said aloud.

“He’s in his study at the back of the house.”

Coulson nodded as she stepped aside and he continued up the stairs. What he hoped he had been able to hide from both of them was just how nervous he was to face Clint.

+++

He walked through the house taking note of the hominess. He could be comfortable here. When he reached the door to Clint’s study he stopped. There sitting in a leather recliner was Clint. Asleep. A tablet dropped to the floor and his son sound asleep on his chest. He debated waking Clint but decided against it. He looked like he hadn’t been sleeping well if the lines and shadows he saw were any indication. Turning to leave, he heard a quiet “Hey.” Stopping and turning back toward the study, he saw Clint looking at him. 

“Hey,” he said quietly. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You’d rather face Laura and Tasha than wake me up. Brave man.”

“Well you wife took a few ounces of flesh before telling me where you were,” he commented with a slight smile.

“That’s all? I’m surprised. What about Tasha?”

“Nothing, which tells me she must have taken a bit off Fury’s hide.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Clint commented.

He watched Clint shift and stand up the toddler cradled in his arms. “Let me go put Nathaniel down and we can talk.”

“I guess I’ll wait here,” Coulson said leaning against the door out of Clint’s way as this friend carried the sleeping toddler past. 

“Just follow me,” Clint told him as he continued through the kitchen.

He followed Clint through the house and up the stairs. He peeked into the bedrooms as they passed. Lila’s and Cooper’s judging from the color and the toys he saw in each. A guest room, that he guessed was more of Natasha’s room than it was a guest room. He watched Clint slip into what turned out to be a small room closest to what he was sure was the master bedroom. Standing at the door, he watched as Clint laid his sleeping son down, kissing his forehead before standing up again. 

“Let’s go for a walk,” Clint suggested as he passed him closing the door slightly.

He followed Clint back down the stairs. He stayed by the stairs as Clint went to tell Laura what was going on. He pretended not to see the glare she sent his way. It wouldn’t do any of them any good if he and Laura got into a pissing match.

+++

He led Coulson across the yard to a mowed path that led through a hay field to a stand of trees near a small lake.

“Tasha talked to Fury. Got his side of it,” he told Coulson as they walked side by side.

“I figured she had when she didn’t kill me on sight.”

Clint laughed. He couldn’t help himself. Tasha had been pissed when he told her about Coulson being alive. “I want your side. Do you have any idea what your death did to me, especially with what Loki did to me?” he admitted glancing over to see the effect his words had on his once friend and confidant. 

“Tell me,” Coulson said to him.

And he did. As they slowly walked through the field, he told Coulson about how his guilt about what Loki did to him and how he blamed himself for Coulson’s death. He told him about how he’d wake up screaming after reliving seeing Coulson’s death, or how it wasn’t Loki that killed Coulson but himself. 

When they arrived at the lake, they walked out the dock and sat at the end, their feet dangling off the end. Like two kids sitting there wiling away a lazy day. He told Coulson all about Laura holding him as he cried because he blamed himself for one of his best friend’s death. He told him how he started the addition that became his study and the larger kitchen as a way of working through his anger and tiring out his body to hopefully calm his mind. When he ran out of words to say how he felt, they sat there in silence. He knew Coulson was absorbing his brutal honesty and weighing how he was going to respond.

And when Phil did respond. He listened to what he had to say. He listened to what was done to Phil to bring him back and how long it took. He listened to how Phil struggled to remember and struggled with the effects of the formula he was given. And he listened as Phil told him how he struggled with not telling him and Tasha he was alive. He understood Fury’s declaration of secrecy. The one eyed bastard was good at things like that. Hell, it was how his wife and children stayed a secret for so long and for the most part were still a secret. He had a harder time with the not telling them he was alive.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know if there is anything I can actually say that will excuse what I put you through. All the explanations in the world can’t take back the pain I put you and Laura and Tasha through.”

“No there really isn’t. It’s going to take time Phil. Time for me to understand and accept,” Clint declared. 

“I understand.”

Clint looked over at the man who had been his handler, his friend and smirked. “Hey Boss,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“Hope you have a change of clothes,” he stated as he shoved Phil off the end of the dock.

“Sonofabitch,” Phil sputtered as he resurfaced.

Clint laughed and then gasped as he felt his foot being grabbed and pulled. He himself being pulled into the water. 

+++

Laura sat with Natasha on the porch. They talked about Phil’s arrival and what it meant for all of them. But most importantly what it meant for Clint. She lived through his reoccurring nightmares once again. She hoped whatever was being said out there would at least put a stop to them.

“Laura,” Tasha called to her, when she looked at her, she followed to where Clint and Phil were walking back up the path; laughing with their arms wrapped around one another and as they came closer she could tell they were soaking wet. 

“Looks like they worked things out,” she said with a shrug.

“Looks like it. Are you going to forgive him?”

When Natasha asked the question, she wasn’t sure how she felt about what Phil had done to them. “If Clint does, maybe eventually. I’m going to make him work for it. You?” She asked Tasha. Pretty much knowing the answer she was going to get.

“Eventually,” Tasha answered her. 

“Boys,” Laura said as they stumbled up on the porch dripping with their shoes squishing with every step. “Go change. I have soup on for dinner.” And with that she realized that she’d mostly forgiven Phil just because of the look on Clint’s face as they came home laughing. 

End?


End file.
